Vail opens China Bowl

Resort has half of terrain open early this year

Whatever your plans for the weekend were, call them off. Vail announced Friday that China Bowl has been opened for the season. Sun Up and Sun Down bowls opened Thursday. Vail press attributed the earlier-than-expected opening to the hard work of the Vail Ski Patrol. The ski area now has just under half of its 5,200 acres open.

For those of you unfamiliar with the storied history of Colorado's biggest resort, Vail was founded with Colorado local Earl Eaton convinced his WWII buddy and skiing aficionado Pete Seibert to give the valley a try, and the view that sold them both on this now much-prized ski area was that peaking over into China Bowl and on into Blue Sky Basin — portions of the resort that took four decades to open. Trust us, it's sigh worthy.